Forbes: Western Automakers Can't Afford To Ignore The Threat Of The New 'Made In China'

When a two-year-old Chinese startup unveiled the Byton—a high-end, artificially intelligent, fully electric sport utility vehicle that is 40 percent cheaper than a Tesla Model X—at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show, it not only threw down the gauntlet in the race to develop "intelligent" electric cars. The company also signaled that Chinese manufacturing has entered a new phase.

Just as China has become a global player in personal computers, solar panels, and integrated circuits to the point that the nation is among the world’s largest producers, we expect China will become a major supplier in new sectors such as aerospace, electric cars, and robotics in the near future. Until now, the Chinese have been held back in these sectors in large part because of concerns over quality and safety. But the fact that Future Mobility Corp. was able to poach some of the biggest names in tech and electric vehicles from companies like BMW, Google, and even Tesla to develop the Byton shows how quickly the landscape can change and how Western companies cannot afford to be complacent.

Read the rest of the article on Made in China 2025 and China’s manufacturing aspirations here.